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Dee Dee Ramone
Biography
Best known as the founding bassist of New York City punk icons the Ramones, Dee Dee Ramone was also a solo recording artist, painter, and writer. Born Douglas Colvin on September 18, 1952, in Ft. Lee, VA, the future Ramone grew up in Berlin, Germany (due to his father's Army career) and his main interest became collecting Third Reich memorabilia. But by the time he was a teenager, his family had relocated to Queens, NY, where Colvin developed an interest in rock music (the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix) and picked up the guitar. But eventually, Colvin turned to the seedier side of life, developing an addiction to heroin (that would continue to plague him for years) and supporting his habit by street hustling.

By the early '70s, Colvin had become interested in such then-misunderstood acts as the Stooges and the New York Dolls, whose primitive and stripped-down sound was more enticing than the overblown prog rock of the era. During a period where he paid the bills working as a barber, as a post office worker, and on a construction site, Colvin befriended another local Stooges fan, John Cummings. They decided soon thereafter to form a band that reflected the same raw, garage rock sound of the two aforementioned outfits.
Selected Discography